cinders
by splendorousfire
Summary: Azula's lips touched her neck and left a scar that burned like fire. Oneshot. AzulaxTy Lee.


Their affair was secret; it had to be secret. It was carried on in the shadows of the palace, amongst whispers and an insatiable longing for each other. All they had, in Ty Lee's mind, was each other. If she was destined to become the Fire Lord's mistress, she would be fine with that, if it only meant she could be with Azula forever.

Azula's lips touched her neck and left a scar that burnt like fire. Her fingertips traced across Ty Lee's skin and left searing marks. Ty Lee knew the pain came from the fact that it was illicit and foolish, and nothing like the cold and calculated princess to let herself become so heated.

It went that way night after night since Ty Lee was removed from the circus. And she had never loved anything more, the sensation of burning, crumbling, melting in the arms of someone who wanted nothing else but her. But for Azula, Ty Lee knew, the world was not enough.

They lay in bed on Ember Island, two separate twin beds. Ty Lee was used to being interlocked with Azula on expensive mattresses, feeling like royalty herself. And sometimes she dreamt of being royalty, as absurd as that was. She would never reach that high in Azula's eyes and she knew it. But they were separate tonight and Ty Lee supposed that it was fitting.

"Are you mad at me?" Ty Lee whispered in the darkness. She hoped for a split second that Azula had not heard her, but the princess made a small noise.

"No. I don't know why I would be," Azula said, the blankets on her bed rustling in the shadows.

"Because... you seem mad at me," Ty Lee offered weakly and Azula took a deep breath.

"It isn't as if we're in an exclusive relationship," Azula said and Ty Lee wanted desperately to believe her. She sounded confident in her words but Ty Lee could tell she did not mean them. But she wanted above all else for Azula to mean them. Or maybe she didn't. Their relationship was too confusing.

"I love you, Azula."

"I know," Azula replied casually, as if it were so easy for her. Maybe it was easy for her; everything always was.

Ty Lee closed her eyes and tried to sleep. But it was far from easy. She craved the scars of fire and kisses of flame. All she wanted were the princess's hands on hers and to own each other for a little while, instead of Ty Lee being gradually crushed under the weight of Azula's heel.

Maybe she made her jealous on purpose. Maybe Ty Lee just wanted validation. Maybe she was never looking for love with Azula, but just longing for attention.

"What are we? Is this relationship real?" Ty Lee dared to ask, although her heart worried that she was stirring something that did not need to be woken.

"I'd consider us friends, I suppose," Azula said with a yawn that revealed how much she did not want to be talking about this. "And it's not real. Or, at least in the way you think. I don't get romantically involved. I win wars; I don't... pick out flowers for my girlfriend."

Cold. A cold fire that consumed them both. Azula could not help but be bitterly cold and Ty Lee would shiver from it. But she had to be bright, optimistic. Boys, make-up, nothing about how very dark her relationship with Princess Azula was becoming.

"I'm honored to be your friend," Ty Lee chirped and Azula almost pitied her. Ty Lee wanted more; Azula had nothing more to give except for those kisses that burnt like fire.

It was a fault in Azula, not Ty Lee, but neither of them would admit it.

Years later, Azula's lips touched Ty Lee's neck and left a scar that burnt like fire. Her fingertips traced across Ty Lee's skin and left searing marks. They were alone in the dark and Azula was distant and crumbling. Ty Lee could feel her and touch her but Azula was distinctly missing.

Princess Azula was gradually disappearing. And Ty Lee still craved those scars, those burning kisses that felt like oxygen as Ty Lee was drowning. She would leave her stable, sane life on Kyoshi Island to come to Azula and sleep with her, and let her emotions get tangled up in a girl who did not seem to have the capacity to reciprocate.

No longer did she imagine herself as the Fire Lord's mistress. Azula would never be Fire Lord anyway, after all that had transpired. The princess seemed to care less about it as time passed. But she often allowed herself to believe that they could fall for each other.

"I love you, Azula," Ty Lee said as they lay in bed, glistening with sweat and intertwined.

"I know," Azula murmured in response, although she seemed very distant. Ty Lee swallowed, her throat feeling as if it had been rubbed with sandpaper.

"What are we?" Ty Lee asked softly.

Azula hesitated this time. The first night they were enemies, the second they were strictly sexual, then finally, Azula dared to call her a friend again. It was not as if Azula had any other friends to speak of. No one wanted her anymore. She was just a mad, mad girl alone in the world and released from an asylum only to be her brother's pet project.

"Perhaps we're lovers," Azula offered with a hint of derision and Ty Lee tried not to laugh. It was not necessarily funny, but it was absurd in the best of ways. "You would like that, wouldn't you? It's why you keep coming back. You think I'm going to love you. You think that all of this fucking is going to mean something someday."

"I think it does," Ty Lee breathed sweetly and Azula's lip twisted in a strange snarl.

"It doesn't. It's never going to work that way and it never would," Azula said calmly, her voice purring and provocative despite the harshness of her words.

"If that's what you want..." Ty Lee said softly, unsure what else there was she could say.

She simply accepted the kisses that burnt like fire. And with that, accepted that the princess would never admit that she needed or wanted anybody but herself.

Azula woke up screaming often, but this night she had tears streaming from her eyes. Ty Lee seized her as her nails dug into her own skin, dragging Azula to her chest. The princess seemed as if she wanted to fight, but she did not, she sobbed and gasped.

"It's not real," Ty Lee said and Azula did not respond. "It's not real."

Whatever nightmare she inhabited was not real. Not at all. But that did not mean it had no significance.

"Is this real?" Azula murmured and Ty Lee did not know what to make of it. Ty Lee asked the relationship questions as Azula simply slept with Ty Lee and refused to get involved. "Are we real?"

"I love you. That's real."

Azula's lips, damp with tears that she could not longer hide, touched Ty Lee's neck and left a scar that burnt like fire.


End file.
